Agreed. If I had to get home badly enough, and the price was right, I’d crawl up into the overhead bin.

Of course, I’ve been on various kinds of public transportation in eastern Europe, and don’t really think standing on a plane is much worse than riding in overcrowded marschrutkas, trolleys, or passenger trains.

Haha so this. I’m from eastern Europe and you’d be surprised the kind of bucket of bolts modes of transportation I have ridden on. Trains and buses that are literally falling apart and where people have to stand all the time. It’s like par for the course. If you don’t get on the train or bus early enough, kiss that seat good bye. Therefore, if I was given a good enough discount on my ticket, I probably wouldn’t mind sitting down in the aisle of the airplane.

I wouldn’t have got on if the airline had guaranteed me a seat on the next plane, plus offered vouchers for food and access to a lounge while I waited. Otherwise, Id have sued, but this is turkey, so maybe I cant sue… hmmm. I dont think I would have gotten on. Wouldn’t take much to get hurt in that situation

I know this is Russia and the airline is pretty tiny with only a few planes. But even Russia still has some decent airline safety standards. I’m pretty sure flying with more passengers than seats is a violation of a few dozen safety codes.

When I was a child, I used to ride in the back of my father’s panel van either standing or sitting on the floor. He was also a reckless driver, and would hit speed bumps at +30 mph. I fear no airplane. I also do not fear death.

Hmmm, as Turkey is a candidate member for inclusion to the EU and not a full member, I am not sure that the EU aviation rules apply. If they did apply, this was certainly a big violation and the airline could be fined for millions. For the passengers, in addition to being offered guaranteed seats on the next flight, the airline would need to offer them $1,200 cash on the spot for the inconvenience of having to wait 7 hours for the next flight.

If they made me stand I’d better be able to listen to my MP3 player during takeoff and landing, I ain’t stowing anything.

As someone who has travelled in the back of pickup trucks with 20 people and 200 chickens, been on trains where the toilet was a hole on the floor that let your business drop directly onto the track, got stuck in the middle of arctic water because the tiny ferry I was on got its props stuck in a fishing net, and once had to stop walking because I realized I was in a mine field, standing on a plane would not be that big of a deal to me.

To be honest sitting in the aisle sounds a LOT better than an airplane seat. I am 6’6″ 210lbs. and do NOT fit in the seats at all. I think I could be a lot more comfortable will a couple pillows stretched out on the floor. In fact, that sounds really nice.

The other passengers on the plane should have been concerned about the standing passengers. They could have become very heavy objects during turbulence and been a danger to the seated passengers. The FAA should bar this airline from ever coming within a thousand miles of the US.

Oh kids, this is not new, nor is it news for anyone who lived in the good old Soviet Union. I survived 56 flights on Aeroflop, and I can regale you with horror stories for days, including: 1) people standing on flights/spending the whole flight with the toilet as their paid seat/people huddled in the walk-on baggage area of a massive jumbo set; 2)aisles completely blocked with watermelons and goats (after the flight crew was bribed out on the tarmac); 3) getting to inspect a plane to see if a companion and I would be willing to be passengers on it – and discovered half the seats were burned; 4) seatback pockets full of vomit; 5) a wheel falling off a plane… over on Facebook, some of my fellow former Moscow dwellers and I started a thread of our favorite Soviet/Russian aircraft nightmares. Good times, good times…

The airline should have never given them the choice and just told them to get on the next plane (of course, then, we’d be reading a story about how they were stranded at the airport for 7 hours). They made their own bed through their decision to be too impatient to hang around the airport for a while, and they deserved what they got.

Ha! this is in the same country as the pilot exiting to clients withan axe, and threatening potential terrorists with it. ( Basically, I have an axe and not afraid to use it agains you darn $@&$$@ terrorists , speech). This is a true story. Nothing surprises me any more.

In 1985, I was on a Pan-Am flight to Berlin that had people standing all the way down the aisle. The flight before mine was canceled, and they crammed as many of those passengers onto the remaining flights that day, available seats or not. No idea what kind of consideration those people got.

Once on an Aeroflot (Aeroflop) flight, I had to sit in the folding flight attendant seat for a 7 hour flight next to a pair of runny nose toddlers and a giant dog (cross between a St. Bernard and a grizzly) that was as equally snotty, also bounced from their seats due to overbooking. They decided to pick the smallest passengers to re-seat in these rumble seats – needless to say the attendants stood the entire flight, so I really had little to complain about.

I once took a small European carrier from London to Barcelona. It was a 737. They allowed us to use only two bathrooms (one up front, one in the rear) and the rest were used to store luggage. During turbulence the luggage came tumbling out. After the turbulence no one from the airline thought to put it back away. It just sat out in the aisles for the remaining hour or so. I expect in the eyes of airlines passengers are just baggage that near air so whats the difference?

The carrier should have denied them boarding involuntarily. Period. Standing for an entire flight is a hazard to them and everyone else on board.
Not only would I not have gotten on the plane, I would never have flown on that carrier again. Ever. It’s obvious they have major problems…I wonder what else would be found by a thorough investigation?

If you read the article carefully they were never forced to stand. They choose to get on the plane themselves knowing the their were not enough seats for them and the unsafe conditions. The issue here should be how they were even given the choose and that no one stopped it from happening.

I like to stand during flights, but not the entire flight. They should rotate; musical seats. In the vast majority of plane crashes, seatbelts do you no good anyway (my guess). I want planes to have bed bunks like trains do, and standing areas with some treadmills. That’s my fantasy.

I’ve rode on trains in China (not the tourist ones) the planes could not be any worse than that.